Chinese social media company Weibo plans US debut

The Associated Press

Chinese social media company Weibo Corp. has filed plans for a potential initial public offering of its shares in the U.S.

Weibo was launched four years ago by parent company Sina as a microblogging service. The Twitter-like service allows users to post a feed of up to 140 Chinese characters to share with others, as well as attaching multimedia or other longer-form content to their post.

The company has 61.4 million average daily active users, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Weibo has not determined the exact scope of its offering of American depository shares. Its filing indicates that it plans to raise $500 million, but that is an estimate worked out solely for the purposes of calculating registration fees and may change.

It plans to list its stock on the Nasdaq exchange. The company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands but conducts business in China.

Weibo plans to use proceeds from the offering to repay loans to Sina, which is a majority owner, and invest the rest in its business. Alibaba Group invested in the company in 2013 and has an 18 percent stake in Weibo.

Weibo company has posted a loss for its last three years, which has narrowed gradually each year on increasing revenue.